A5
S PORTS
THE BULLETIN • MoNday, JULy 5, 2021
bendbulletin.com/sports
OLYMPICS | SOFTBALL PREVIEW
GOLF
Cam Davis wins
first PGA Tour title
NBA
Cam Davis of Australia
won the Rocket Mort-
gage Classic on Sunday
for his first PGA Tour title
when Troy Merritt missed
a 6-foot par putt on the
fifth hole of a playoff.
Davis had putts to win
on each of the five extra
holes, one of them from 6
feet and a 12-foot birdie
putt on the fifth play-
off hole, the par-3 15th.
He wound up winning
when Merritt missed the
green to the left and then
missed his par put.
Davis closed with a
5-under 67 to match
Merritt (68) and Joaquin
Niemann (68) at 18-under
270 at Detroit Golf Club.
Niemann dropped
out of the playoff with a
bogey on the first extra
hole, his first bogey of
the week. He also lost in a
playoff at the Sentry Tour-
nament of Champions.
Davis holed a 50-foot
bunker shot for eagle on
the par-5 17th and bird-
ied the par-4 18th to get
to 18 under. Niemann
two-putted from 14 feet
for birdie on the 17th,
while Merritt made his
fourth birdie in five holes
on the 17th to join Davis
at 18 under.
Niemann had a chance
to win it on the 72nd
hole, but missed a 17-foot
birdie putt.
» Chauncey Billups
was introduced as
the Portland Trail
Blazers head coach
on June 29.
Ko wins week after
slipping from No. 1
Jin Young Ko closed
with seven straight pars
for a 2-under 69 and a
one-shot victory in the
Volunteers of America
Classic, her first start since
losing the No. 1 world
ranking.
Ko made a par putt
from just outside 3 feet
on the final hole at Old
American Golf Club to
beat Matilda Castren of
Finland, who also shot 69.
The South Korean star
won for the first time
this year, and the timing
couldn’t have been bet-
ter. She had held the No.
1 ranking for nearly two
years until Nelly Korda
supplanted her last week
by winning the KPMG
Women’s PGA Champi-
onship.
Ko had failed to finish
in the top 10 in four of
her previous five starts on
the LPGA Tour. But not far
from her American home
of Dallas, she thrived.
She finished at 16-under
268 for her eighth career
LPGA victory. She remains
at No. 2.
Gaby Lopez of Mexico
closed with a 65, making
her only bogey on the
final hole. She finished
alone in third, two shots
behind.
— Associated Press
MOTOR SPORTS
Elliott starts new
Hendrick streak
Even a start near the
back of the pack couldn’t
prevent Chase Elliott from
continuing his uncanny
success on road courses.
Elliott started in the
34th position but still
found a way to win the
NASCAR Cup Series at
Road America on Sunday
to wrap up a playoff spot.
The 25-year-old Hendrick
Motorsports driver has
seven career Cup Series
victories on road courses,
putting him in sole pos-
session of third place in
NASCAR history.
“I really have no idea,”
Elliott said about his suc-
cess on road courses. “I
feel like it’s just good cars.”
Elliott, the 2020 series
champion, gave Hendrick
Motorsports its seventh
victory in its last eight
Cup races.
— Associated Press
Sean Meagher/
The Oregonian file
Sue Ogrocki/AP file
USA Softball pitcher Cat Osterman pitches in an exhibition game
against USSSA Pride in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, on June 4. U.S.
coach Ken Eriksen predicts tight competition in softball as the sport
returns to the Olympics for the first time since 2008. The 15-woman
U.S. roster includes Osterman, the last holdover from the 2004 gold
medal-winning team.
‘I think
highly of
the roster’
New coach Chauncey Billups
expected to elevate Blazers
BY AARON FENTRESS • The Oregonian
U
nless Neil Olshey can make a major roster splash
this offseason, new Portland Trail Blazers coach
Chauncey Billups could prove to be the most
impactful addition to the team this offseason.
Americans on
many teams as
softball returns
to Olympics
U.S. coach predicts
tight competition
BY RONALD BLUM
AP Baseball Writer
Ken Eriksen predicts tight
competition in softball as the
sport returns to the Olympics.
“Over the last probably 16
years you’ve seen the world
catch up in softball because
of the opportunities that USA
Softball provided in the teach-
ing and the clinics overseas,
but also the colleges started
to recruit some really good
athletes overseas and de-
velop them,” the U.S. coach
said. “And then the rules have
been relaxed in respect of do
you have to be a 100% citi-
zen, whatever that means, in
quotations, of a country that’s
playing. And so we are going
to be playing against a lot of
citizens of the United States
that happen to be on Italy, that
happen to be of Mexico, that
happen to be of Canada.”
Seventeen of the 19 players
currently on Mexico’s roster
are listed on the team’s web-
site as living in the United
States.
Italy’s roster includes sec-
ond baseman Emily Carosone,
born in Orlando, Florida.
Infielder Kelsey Harsh-
man, who was born in Tuc-
son, Arizona, is part of a
Canada team filled with U.S.
college veterans that include
Joey Lye, who quit as Buck-
nell’s coach to compete for
the Olympic team.
“And so that’s where those
countries have caught up
quite a bit,” said Eriksen, the
head coach since 2011 af-
ter nine years as an assistant.
“Australia has a great develop-
mental program and Japan,
a very disciplined and struc-
tured organization. So this
will be an Olympics unlike
any other. I think everybody
right now is not that farly sep-
arated as they used to be.”
See Softball / A6
CYCLING | TOUR DE FRANCE
Sean Meagher/The Oregonian file
Olshey, president of basket-
ball operations, will have little if
any cap space to work with, and
attempts in the past to bring a
major star to Portland via free
agency or a trade have not suc-
ceeded.
So, in order for the Blazers to
become a true contender, they
likely will have to improve from
within, and Olshey believes Bil-
lups is the man to make that
happen.
“I think we made the right
call, and I think you guys would
be really excited to see how
he leads the franchise on the
court,” Olshey said during Tues-
day’s announcement.
Here is a look at what Billups
brings to the franchise:
Accountability on defense
“I think the biggest, I guess,
improvement that we can make
as a team is on the defensive end
of the floor,” Billups said.
To say the least.
The Blazers finished the sea-
son fourth in offensive rating
(118.3) but 12th in net rating
(1.7) because the defense sat at
29th (116.6).
Jusuf Nurkic (left), CJ McCollum
(center) and Damian Lillard (right)
high-five at the Moda Center in
May. Lillard has discussed the
team’s overall lack of accountability
when it came to playing defense.
Christophe Ena/AP
Olshey made it known after
the Blazers and former coach
Terry Stotts parted ways on June
4 that the former coach’s inabil-
ity to turn around the defense
played a factor in the split, and
that any new coach would have
to put forth a plan to repair the
team’s poor play at that end of
the court.
Of course, adding schemes
and becoming more versatile
on defense will play a factor. But
two areas desperately in need
of an overhaul are the team’s
lack of commitment to playing
sound defense and players being
held accountable.
Guard Norman Powell, after
being acquired in a trade with
Toronto in late March, admit-
ted that the Blazers didn’t truly
embrace playing defense like the
Raptors did.
See Blazers / A6
Slovenia’s Tadej Pogacar, wearing the overall leader’s yellow jer-
sey, celebrates on the podium after the eighth stage of the Tour de
France cycling race.
Defending champ
Pogacar keeps control;
Roglic drops out
Associated Press
TIGNES, France — De-
fending champion Tadej Pog-
acar kept control of the Tour
de France on a rain-soaked
second day in the Alps as a
crash-filled opening week
took its toll on rivals on Sun-
day.
“I’m sure a lot of guys suf-
fered today,” said Pogacar,
who retained the race leader’s
yellow jersey by responding
when required in the ninth
stage.
Both last year’s runner-up
Primoz Roglic and former
overall leader Mathieu van
der Poel dropped out of
the race before the grueling
144.9-kilometer (90-mile)
route from Cluses to Tignes.
Australian rider Ben
O’Connor won the stage after
launching a solo break with
17 kilometers to go. Sergio
Higuita was unable to follow
the 25-year-old as O’Connor
powered up the Col du Pré
for the finish at Tignes.
O’Connor struggled to
fight back tears after his first
tour win.
See Tour / A6